


Two Layers of A Vast Ocean

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Get fucked Kyle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 07:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13026405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: Rey meets a strange man who seems to really dislike Kylo Ren





	Two Layers of A Vast Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> I really want these two to meet. (The student is Pypey btw)

Rey’s lightsaber blade clashed with Kylo’s, her arms strained against the onslaught of force as the sounds of their fight echoed in the deserted hangar.

“You’re still weak.” he hissed in her face, chin burnt from where she’d clipped him a few minutes before, “Still _nothing_.” She pushed him back, slicing at him as he jumped to a safer distance.

“And you’re still a monster.” she declared, raising her blade. He leapt at her, and she braced to meet his blow. But before he could get within swinging distance, he was suddenly hurled to the side, slamming into the wall with a yelp before flying towards the opposite wall. The motion repeated four more times as Rey stared in confusion, Kylo’s shouts and the sound of him hitting metal echoing through the hangar, before he was slammed to the ground with a groan of pain.

“Okay, that was hilarious.” an unfamiliar voice drawled from behind her. She whirled around, ignoring Kylo’s crumpled form to face the stranger. A dark-skinned human man around General Organa’s age strolled casually into the hangar, his curly dark hair streaked with white and deep blue eyes shining with mirth, his posture utterly unconcerned. His raised hand fell back to his side, brushing his cloak aside to briefly reveal the oddest blaster she had ever seen. The scavenger in her wondered for a moment how much that thing would have gotten her as the man gave her a winning smile.

“Who are you?” she asked suspiciously as Kylo stumbled to his feet, glaring balefully at them. The man didn’t seem at all concerned by him.

“Ezra Bridger.” he introduced himself with a flourish, “Nice to meet you, Rey. So this is the kid who thinks he’s on par with Vader?”

“Bridger.” Kylo hissed. Rey got the sense that Kylo knew who this man was, or had at least heard the name. She prepared for another fight, but Ezra seemed completely relaxed.

“Pardon my lack of fearful quaking, Kyle” he said dryly, causing Rey to snort, “Your lame Vader costume doesn’t exactly inspire terror. I’ve met Vader. Fought him, even. He hated arrogant whelps. He’d have crushed your windpipe the moment you opened your mouth, kid.”

“You-“ Kylo’s face twisted with anger, “You know nothing about him!”

“Apparently neither do you.” Ezra shocked Rey by turning his back to him, deliberately ignoring him in favor of Rey, “Are you hurt?”

“No.” she said cautiously, “Are you-“

“You dare ignore me?” Kylo demanded, gripping his saber tighter, “I am _not_ a-“

“Hush.” Ezra said sternly, making a gesture with his hand that seemed to trap the words in Kylo’s throat, “The adults are talking.” Kylo looked furious. Rey felt a savage satisfaction at that. She was starting to think she liked this Bridger man.

“How did you do that?” she asked him, “Was that the Force? Are you a...”

“Anything is possible with years of practice and loud siblings.” Ezra winked. Rey couldn’t help a smile at the quip, the man’s youthful spirit putting her at ease. Kylo didn’t seem as amused.

“Turning your back on a threat.” Kylo said once he could speak again, murder in his eyes, “You’re a fool, Bridger.“

“I don’t see a threat.” Ezra said, utterly unconcerned, “I see a reject from Coruscant Heights.”

“Your juvenile attempts to provoke me are pathetic.” Kylo said as a vein in his temple visibly throbbed.

“Are you gonna cry?” Ezra taunted, “Is Crylo Ben gonna cry? Is the mean old man hurting your feelings?”

“You are a-“

“Have you ever actually won a one on one fight?” Ezra cut in with a mean laugh, “Or is your greatest victory the turbolift door?”

“Filthy spy, I’ll kill you.” Kylo snarled, launching towards him and swinging wildly. Ezra dodged easily with a bright laugh, and Rey thought privately he was having way too much fun with this.

“Like you could.” Ezra shot back easily, and Rey noticed with interest that he was luring him away from her, “When I was your age I’d already beaten your uncle at least three times. What have you done, killed a bunch of kids and then stuck to ordering stormtroopers around?”

“Be quiet!” Kylo roared, lashing out again and again. Rey watched with tense awe as Ezra seemed to dance around his blows, like this was a game of tag rather than a battle. He never even drew his weapon. He didn’t need to.

“You’re a weak bitch.” Ezra said a sharklike smile and a hint of venom, adding a little twirl to his next dodge just to egg Kylo on, “You couldn’t beat a starving loth cat, let alone me.”

“I beat Han Solo.” Kylo snarled, and Ezra’s expression darkened. For a brief second, Rey swore she saw... _something_ coiled loosely around him, but it was gone before she could blink. He stopped his playful dance, ripping Kylo’s lightsaber from his hand without touching it.

“It _is_ the Force.” Rey murmured to herself, realization jarring her, “A Jedi! Or...” Or maybe something else. A Jedi wouldn’t have this much Darkness coiled in him like a spring ready to snap, a Jedi likely wouldn’t have had that much fun fighting and hurling insults in the first place.

“Han Solo was my friend.” Ezra tossed Kylo’s lightsaber across the hangar and into open space before Kylo could react, heedless of his shout of protest. Rey felt a pang of something dark ruffle through her hair, swiftly followed by a lightness soothing away the pang of pain that came with thinking of Han. From the look in Kylo’s eyes, he’d felt something similar, maybe sans the lightness, “You only beat him because he allowed it. You honestly think a spoiled piece of trash like you could win a fair fight?” He hurled Kylo back with a wave of his hand, sending him skidding across the floor with a grunt of pain.

“Wake up, Kyle.” Ezra said angrily as Kylo scrambled to his feet, “Throwing tantrums and crying at night doesn’t make you a Sith. And weird shrines to grandpa in your room doesn’t mean you’re honoring him.”

“You have the Force.” Kylo said, brows drawn together as he tried to figure Ezra together, “But you’re neither Jedi as Luke said, nor Sith as Snoke did. What are you?”

“I’m just a guy trying to save everyone.” Ezra said, “And you’re the weaponless loser making an incompetent mess of this imitation Empire.”

“I don’t need my lightsaber to fight you.” Kylo threatened, “And I don’t hide behind a spy network or bugs. I can take you with just my-“

“Oh, who kriffing cares?” Ezra rolled his eyes and pulled out the strange blaster, stunning Kylo without ceremony. Rey stared with surprise, wondering who exactly this man was to play kit-and-mouse with Kylo Ren and then take him down so easily.

“Why didn’t you do that from the beginning?” she asked as Ezra holstered the blaster and came to stand before her.

“I wanted to see if I could make him cry.” he admitted shamelessly, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening with his mischievous grin, “I feel like I came close there for a minute.”

“Who are you?” she asked, scanning him like a puzzle to be solved. He smiled cryptically at her, opening his arms as if to say _take a look._

“You tell me.” he said simply, “What do you sense?” She closed her eyes, feeling reasonably secure that he wouldn’t kill her, and reached out.

“I sense... Darkness in you.” she said, brows knitting together in confusion, “But also Light. You’re a maelstrom inside, intense hatred warring with a fierce love. But it doesn’t consume you. The conflict within you is minimal. Accepted. How have you found balance like this?”

“Dark and Light are irrelevant. The Force is the Force.” Ezra said gently, “It’s a lesson I took way too long to learn.”

“So you utilize the Force, but you don’t choose a side?” she asked, lips quirking slightly as a she felt two tendrils of both Darkness and Light swirl curiously around her face like inquisitive baby porgs. Ezra chuckled. She wondered what he was seeing in her.

“Sides are a sentient-made construct.” Ezra said, “Light and Dark are extremely simplified versions of a greater thing, like the first two layers of a vast ocean. Too much of either one will lead to destruction.”

“Are you a Master?” she asked, finally opening her eyes as the tendrils receeded, “You seem to know an awful lot about the Force.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a Master.” he grinned, “I’m a spymaster for the Resistance.”

“A spymaster? Is that how you knew we were here?” Rey asked, a spark of excitement lighting in her. A spymaster. A real spymaster, how exciting! Ezra laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Honestly, I heard the battle as I was passing by and came to investigate.” he shrugged, “Then I saw Ben Solo and just had to jump in. I really hate that kid. Sorry for stealing your thunder.”

“It’s perfectly fine.” Rey assured, “Master Skywalker taught me that sometimes it’s best to let others step up to take tasks you can’t.” She couldn’t quite help the sarcasm laced into her voice, but Ezra seemed amused by it.

“Luke?” Ezra asked with a little laugh, “That son of a bantha owes me fifty credits. And don’t sell yourself short, Rey, you’d have done fine without me.”

“Perhaps.” she admitted, “If I might ask, why do you hate Ren?” Ezra’s jaw worked, his hand tightening on his blaster as the air seemed to thicken. All at once, his youthful vibrance seemed to vanish, leaving a hint of the weary veteran hiding behind the cheer.

“That little bastard had _everything_.” he said darkly, “A family that loved him, good friends, a bright future, a healing galaxy to grow up in. And he threw it all away for power. He helped start another galactic war because he’s a selfish little wannabe who-“ Ezra’s comm crackling broke him from what may have become a little speech, his anger and the heavy air seeming to dissipate as he answered.

“Yeah, I’m here.” he said into the comm, rolling his eyes fondly towards Rey, the tired old man gone once again, “Yeah, I know, I just got a little distracted. I’m fine, awesome even. Kiddo, I’m alright. I’m on my way now.” He ended the call with a fond head shake.

“I should go before my student comes running. It was nice meeting you, Rey.” he offered his hand, “Best of luck to you.”

“You too.” she shook it happily, “May the Force be with you.”

“And with you.” he smiled, “You may not be seeing me again, but I’ll be seeing you. Give me a shout if you ever need a teacher.”

“I will.” she waved at him as he walked away, turning and heading towards her own ship with a spring in her step, giving Kylo’s unmoving form a swift kick on her way out.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus: 
> 
> “Ezra helped you?” General Organa asked, “Ezra Bridger? And he gave you his real name?”
> 
> “You know him?” Rey asked, “He mentioned he was a spymaster for the Resistance.”
> 
> “That son of a bantha owes me fifty credits.” she deadpanned.


End file.
